How can you be so bad at this?

"I just-I don't want to intrude on like a family thing." Buck looks nervous which is understandable considering that—if the sound of voices talking and laughing being clearly heard all the way from the sidewalk is any indication—there's a lot of people inside.

"Chris wants you here," Eddie tells him. Pepa had picked him up early because Chris wanted to 'make sure everything was perfect for his dad's first birthday party', and he's sure Chris has already told everyone about his best friend Buck, "I want you here. Pepa and Abuela were more than happy to hear that you were coming, and anyway," Eddie continues, walking behind him and grabbing Buck by the shoulders to push him the rest of the way to the door, "my family loves a party and your presence isn't gonna keep them from enjoying it, I promise you."

"Okay," Buck breathes, nodding a little as if to reassure himself.

Eddie opens the front door and steps in after Buck, immediately being smothered in hugs, kisses, and birthday wishes. He tries to keep track of Buck and catches a glimpse of him sitting on the sofa beside Abuela, appearing riveted by whatever it is she's telling him, Eddie hopes whatever it is it's not about him, he wouldn't put it past her to bring out the baby pictures right now. Eddie figures Buck's in good hands there and lets himself be dragged into another pair of arms.

Twenty minutes and about one hundred hugs later, Eddie, and a giggling Chris—who at some point had been deposited on Eddie's back—get dragged away by Pepa in the direction of the backyard. Eddie quickly glances back and sees Buck following behind them, Abuela's arm looped through his.

"It's like none of you listen," Pepa tells the room at large, "I told you to bring him to the backyard as soon as he got here."

"Mami, we wanted to talk for a while, the cake's not going anywhere," Miguel, Pepa's oldest son, tells her, though the look he sends Eddie's way tells him that Miguel definitely did not remember being given those orders. Eddie laughs quietly until he steps into the backyard and gets a glimpse of his cake and can't help but to laugh even harder.

"Really?" Eddie glances at Pepa incredulously, carefully letting Chris down. "I'm not even thirty yet."

"It was Christopher's idea." Pepa shrugs, though the humor in her eyes is evident. The cake, a big sheet cake, is covered in various fondant decorations, including dentures, a cane, and eye glasses.

"You guys are old," Chris giggles. Eddie glances over his shoulder and sees Buck watching on in amusement.

"You hear that Buck? We're old."

Buck's eyes dart over to him in confusion, stumbling a little when Abuela nudges him forward even though her light touch couldn't have possible moved him at all. Eddie tilts his head, gesturing for Buck to come closer. It's not until he's right next to Eddie that he seems to realize that on the cake, right next to Eddie's name, is his own, His mouth opens and closes as he seems to struggle to understand.

Eddie bumps their shoulders together.

"Birthday twins," he murmurs when Buck glances at him. Buck's eyes shine with an emotion that Eddie can't quite name, but that fills him with warmth nonetheless.